With the year winding down, that only means one thing – Christmas is approaching. It is again that time of year when people spend time with their friends and families awaiting to see what Santa Claus will bring them come Christmas Day.

I learned forward, hunched over the buzzer, as if the closer my brain was to my hands, the quicker they could react. Omaha, Nebraska, 2004 – Junior Holstein Association National Dairy Bowl Finals.

• Veterinarians specializing in dairy cattle were recognized during the American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP) annual conference. AgriLabs presented its Dr. Bruce Wren Dairy Continuing Education Award to Dr. David Hudson, who works with dairy cattle in Missouri. Dr. Steve Wadsworth was recognized as the Dairy Quality Center’s Veterinarian of the Year. Jim Jarrett, DVM, was posthumously inducted into the Cattle Production Veterinarian Hall of Fame.

We have turned into early winter here. The harvesters of machines, green and red, have taken their kernels and bean pods, the trucks parked alongside the road are gone and the stubble disk is moving across the field.

Iowa State University conducted a recent survey of dairy producers – both large and small – in the Hawkeye State. The university asked producers a number of questions related to dairy farm management, their facilities and their plans for the future in the dairy business. Responses were collected in the spring of 2012 and published late fall. Progressive Dairyman requested ISU extension dairy specialists compare their results to nationwide trends. Click here to see their full results.

Chobani is hosting a grand opening celebration at its new Twin Falls, Idaho production facility on Dec. 17. The grand opening ceremony takes place almost exactly a year after Chobani’s Dec. 19, 2011, groundbreaking ceremony. Since then, contractors have built the approximately 950,000-square-foot production facility in southeast Twin Falls. It’s the company’s second facility in the U.S.

The USDA, in conjunction with the National Mastitis Council (NMC) Milk Quality Monitoring Committee, monitors milk quality in the U.S. using bulk tank somatic cell count (BTSCC) data provided by four of the nation’s 10 Federal Milk Marketing Orders (FMOs). These FMOs monitored milk from 29,937 producers located in 29 states, and accounted for 46.5 percent of the milk produced in the U.S. during 2011.

Lehigh Valley Dairy Farms recently introduced its new white Pure Protect bottle, an opaque container developed specifically to protect the purity of milk by blocking light intake. The dairy cites a Cornell University study from 2002 that found the fluorescent lighting in retail display cases breaks down vitamins A and B2 (riboflavin) in bottled milk and creates flavor defects in as little as two hours.

Canadian cheese maker Saputo Inc. is bolstering its position in the U.S. by pursuing the largest acquisition in its history, a $1.45 billion deal to buy Morningstar Foods. Saputo said it is expanding its U.S. operations by adding dairy and non-dairy products to its current operations as a cheese manufacturer, distributor and exporter. The move effectively replicates the breadth of its operations in Canada, creating a U.S. division of comparable size.